The Franco-American Cultural Fund announced today that celebrated filmmaker Costa-Gavras has been selected as the “Focus on a Filmmaker” honoree for the 13th annual City of Lights, City of Angels (COL•COA) Film Festival in Los Angeles. The film festival runs April 20-26, 2009, at the Directors Guild of America.

Costa-Gavras’ film “Eden is West,” which was the closing night film at the Berlin International Film Festival, will have its West Coast premiere at the Directors Guild of America on Thursday, April 23. The event is part of the "Happy Hour Talks" established at the 2007 festival to open discussions between filmmakers and industry professionals to the public, with a wine and cheese reception following the program.

One of the world's largest French film festivals, City of Lights, City of Angels will offer a broad array of new features and short films from Paris this year. Among other popular programs, the festival will continue its successful COL•COA High School program, sponsored by ELMA (European Languages and Movies in America) which will be expanded to four mornings and will host an unprecedented 2,400 students. “We are proud of this fast growing educational program that supports a new generation of foreign film viewers,” stated festival director François Truffart.

COL•COA continues to grow every year. This year, festival organizers anticipate 15,000 attendees during the week-long program and welcome new official sponsors Air Tahiti Nui and Dailymotion®.

City of Lights, City of Angels is presented by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a unique collaboration of the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Motion Picture Association (MPA), France’s Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (SACEM) and the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW), with the vital support of L’ARP (France’s Association of Authors, Directors and Producers) the Los Angeles Film and TV Office of the French Embassy and Unifrance.